Safety device for marine engines.



G. C. ELLERTON. SAFETY DEVICE FOR MARINE ENGINES. APPLICATION FILEDDBG.27, 1910.

Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

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9.0. ELLERTON. SAFETY DEVICE FOR MARINE ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 27, 1910.

- Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

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GEORGE o. ELLERTON, on THE UNITED STATES NAVY.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR MARINE ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 5, 1915.

Appiication filed December 27, 1910. Serial No. 599,362.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE C. ELLnR'roN, acitizen of the United States and an oflicer in the United States Navy,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Devices forMarine Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a safety device for marine engines and has forits object to provide a device which will prevent the engineer frommaking the mistake of going the wrong way, that is going ahead when thesignal telegraph says astern, and vice versa; and this object Iaccomplish by providing a warning device such as an electric bell whichrings whenever the engineer does not follow the signals which hereceives.

In the drawingsFigure 1 is an elevation, the electrical connections andsome of the other parts being shown diagrammatn cally; Fig. 2 is asection view on the plane IIII of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side view of thesliding contact piece; Fig.4 is a sectional view of. this contact pieceon the plane IVIV of Fig.3; Fig. 5 is a modification, parts of thedevice being shown diagrammatically; Fig. 6 is a side View, part of thecasing being shown in section; Fig. 7 shows the indicating dial of thetelegraph; and Fig. 8 shows one method of insulating metal arts.

p Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 is a piece of metalsecured at each end to the wire that actuates the gong and pointer ofthe engine room telegraph, the wire 2 extending to the bridge of thevessel in the usual way. Secured to this metal piece 1 is a springcontact piece 3 which may be of brass, turned up at one end, and shownin detail in Figs. 3 and 4. The contact piece 3, Fig. 1, slides under abrass strip or bar 6 which is secured by means of the screws 14, 14which are surrounded by hard rubber insulating sleeves, to any suitablesupport, shown as a base piece 15, of wood.

7, 8, are strips of brass secured to the base plate and arranged asshown, insulating strips 9, 10, of hard rubber being interposed betweenthe strips 7, 8, and the base plate.

11 is a binding screw for securing the wire 28 to the strip 6, and 12,13, are binding posts for securing the wires 24 and 25 respectively tothe strips 8 and 7.

16 is a battery connected by a wire 17 to a bell or gong 18 and thenceby wire 19 to binding post 20 which is secured to and passes through ahard rubber quadrant 49. To this quadrant are secured additional bindingposts 21 and 22 which also pass through the quadrant 49, the lower endsof these binding posts being arranged at such distance apart that two ofthem will be connected by the brass spring 23 which is operated by thehandle 27 or other device secured to the shaft of the reverse lever. Theusual stops for maintaining the handle in the proper position are shownand marked Ahead, Stop, and Astern, this portion of the device being ofthe usual construction. From the binding post 21 the wire 24 leads tothe binding post 12, and from the binding post 22 on the quadrant 49 thewire 25 leads to the binding post 13 on the strip 7. Only one bell isshown but another bell 18 can be placed on the bridge in parallel withthe bell in the engine room so that both will ring at once, letting thecaptain or oflicer on the bridge know when the engineer is making amistake in the operation of the engine.

The operation of the device so far described is as follows: Assumingthat a signal is received by the engineer on the telegraph to go astern.The contact spring 3 as shown in Fig. 1 is in the normal stop positionuntil the above signal is received, when it moves up as indicated bydotted lines in Fig. l. The engineer then moves the reverse lever tobacking position, as indicated at the bottom of Fig. 1, which actioncorresponds to that of the signal. The current will then pass from thebattery 16 through the wire 17, bell 18, wire 19, binding post 20,spring 23, binding post 21, wire 24, binding post 12 and brass strip 8,where the current will be interrupted because the spring contact 3 isout of contact with the bar 8. If, however, the engineer should make amistake and put the reverse lever into the go ahead position, then thespring 23 would be in contact with the binding posts 20 and 22 and thecircuit from the binding post 22 would be through wire 25 to the bindingpost 13, strip 7, spring contact 3, bar 6, binding post 11, and wire 28back to the other side of the battery. The bell would then ring,indicating at once to the engineer that he had made a mistake. And ofcourse if the engineer should upon receipt of a signal to go ahead movehis reverse lever to the astern position, a like warning would be given,as the spring con: tact 3 would then be in its lower position andcomplete the circuit.

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 show a modified form of device, Fig. 7 showing the faceof an engine room mechanical telegraph without theanswering handle andpointer. In Fig. 5, 51 is the sprocket or notched wheel used to ring thegong when the signal is sent on the telebrush 61 which may be of springbrass,

which sweeps over the ring 60. 62 is a brush which may be of springbrass, which is secured to the ring 60. 63 and 61 are brass stripssecured to and insulated from the top of the box which contains thepulley or sheaves and shaft, the lugs by which they are secured beingoutwardly projecting to clear the brush 62. These strips are attached tothe outside of the box above-mentioned in such a way that they do notinterfere with the working of the latch'and hammerthat strikes the gong,this latch and hammer not being shown as they are of the usualconstruction. The gong and dial, Fig. 7, fit over and conceal the partsof the apparatus just described. The brush 61 which is fixed, is curvedto give it spring and is secured to the box but insulated from it by thedistance blocks 65, a hard rubber washer 66 being located under the headof the screw 67 which secures the brush 61 in place; 68 is a bindingpost by which the wire 28 is con- 'nected to the brush.

The operation of the device is similar to that before described. Thuswhen a signal is sent to go aster-n, the sprocket 51 revolves carryingthe ring and the contact spring 62 with it, this spring 62 sliding overthe strip 64 and making contact therewith. If the engineer makes amistake and puts the reverse lever in the ahead position the currentcomes from the battery through the wire-28 to binding post 68 on thespring 61, thence to ring 60, brush 62, strip 64, thence through thewire 25, binding post 22, spring 2?), binding post 20, wire 19, bell 18,wire 17 Come: of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents,-

back to the battery 16. Thus the circuit is complete and the bell ringsto indicate to the engineer that a mistake has been made. By tracing thecurrent through the wires and various connecting devices it will be seenthat when the reverse lever is in the correct position the bell cannotring butwill ring only when the lever is in the wrong position. Thedevices as shown are simple and compact and easily installed.

It is to be particularly noted that the en gineer is warned before hecan actually make a mistake in starting his engines in the wrongdirection, as the reverse lever must be moved to valveis opened.

The combination telegraph, comprising a pivoted disk carryiiig aperipheral jc'ontact plate, contact points supported radially to saidpivot and cocperating successively with said peripheral contact plate,said disk arranged tooscillate abcut said pivot and electrically connectan position before the throttle with an engine-room outer and thecentral radial contact points,

a battery, a bell, a conductor connecting the central radial contact andbell, and a second conductor connecting the other side of the bell toone terminal of the battery, astern and ahead ccntacts, a common contactadjacent said aster'n and ahead cone tact-s,-,sa1d coinincn contactelectrlcally,

connected to the other terminalof said battery, the astern contactconnected to one of the outer radial contact points, the ahead contactconnected to the other outer radialcontact point, a movable memberarranged to successively electricallyicom nect and disconnect the asternand con1-' points and astern and ahead contacts;

and battery and bellremaining open whereby the bell does not ring whenthe telegraph signal is correctly executed, and closed whereby the belldoes ring, when the telegraph signal is incorrectly executed. I Iiitestimony whereof, I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses,

Witnesses:

R. Wns'rAco'r'r, H. D; JAMEsoN.

Washington, D. 0.

GEORGE c. ELLERTON. i

